The Minister for Social Services Kevin Andrews has made it clear that he wants to rein in spending on the Disability Support Pension. More than 830,000 Australians receive the DSP, costing more than $15 billion a year and the minister says it's blown out. But it's an anxious wait for those who receive the payment, with many concerned they could be caught up in any overhaul of eligibility.

Transcript

CHRIS UHLMANN: For the hundreds of thousands of Australians who receive the Disability Support Pension there's been more than little anxiety this week. Many are concerned they could be caught up in changes to the pension as the Federal Government looks for savings in the May Budget.

Despite promises that no-one who legitimately needs support will be affected, many are worried. Social Affairs Correspondent Norman Hermant reports.

(Sounds from within a coffee shop)

NORMAN HERMANT: In Devonport's Rooke Street Mall, Judy Huett and her husband stop for a coffee. This hasn't been an easy week.

Judy has an intellectual disability and receives the Disability Support Pension, or DSP, and what she's been hearing about proposed changes to the pension has her worried.

JUDY HUETT: If I got taken off the pension today, it would be hard for me to live as a person with a disability.

NORMAN HERMANT: The reality is any changes won't affect people like Judy, who has permanent DSP status.

But the government is talking about new assessment rules for those new to the pension on so-called short term or temporary status.

JUDY HUETT: I have a lot of other friends, and I know a lot of other people that it would impact and I'm afraid for them.

NORMAN HERMANT: The DSP now has more than 830,000 Australians on its roll and costs more than $15 billion a year.

One of the biggest challenges posed by the DSP is that once people go on they rarely return to work.

Trisha Jha is a policy analyst at the Centre for Independent Studies in Sydney.

TRISHA JHA: The main way that people exit the DSP is either through death or through the aged pension. Only 1 per cent of people leave the DSP to go to work every single year. That's indicative, in my view, of a policy failure.

NORMAN HERMANT: What do you think about some of the things you're hearing?

PHIL HATTON: Very concerned.

NORMAN HERMANT: In Sunbury, outside Melbourne, Phil Hatton is also worried about possible DSP changes. He's received pension payments for about 18 months after struggling for years with depression, bi-polar disorder and back and neurological problems. For now he says returning to work is out of the question.

He's the kind of recipient that may have to face regular re-assessments by government doctors to stay eligible for the DSP.

PHIL HATTON: Having to go through that continuously, whether it's every six months or something like that, to me would bring a lot of fear into the process.

There is an ignorance there. Just because someone who may look okay, but they may actually be struggling with something that's very, very severe.